Sunday, January 11, 1998Last modified at 3:46 a.m. on Sunday, January 11, 1998

Complaint against Udall surfaces before election

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A former chief prosecutor for Attorney General Tom Udall alleges she was unfairly fired by the attorney general's office because she is a woman.

Barbara Mulvaney left the job in December 1996 and filed a complaint last summer with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Such complaints are confidential, but a copy of a letter regarding the complaint was sent to the New Mexican newspaper.

The July 1997 letter to Udall from Ms. Mulvaney's attorney, Robert Rothstein, spelled out actions behind the complaint.

The newspaper received the letter last week - just as the campaign opened for the 3rd Congressional District seat. Udall is one of nine people seeking the Democratic nomination to oppose Republican Rep. Bill Redmond.

Udall could not be reached for comment.

But Deputy Attorney General Manuel Tijerina said the release of the letter six months after it was written was "strange."

"I believe the timing of the leak is probably related to the political campaign," Tijerina said.

Ms. Mulvaney declined to comment.

Tijerina said her EEOC complaint alleges only that she was fired because she is a woman.

But the letter also accused Udall and his deputies of ignoring harassment and discrimination problems in the office, creating a hostile environment for female employees.

In particular, it charged, they did nothing about complaints from female attorneys that investigators ignored their requests and failed to complete investigations necessary to prosecute their cases.

Tijerina said Friday Ms. Mulvaney wasn't fired but "stormed out of the office" during a discussion of "her management style." He said the office eventually concluded she had resigned.

Udall's office has dealt with all sexual discrimination complaints brought by female workers, bringing in an independent investigator in 1995 to review the complaints, Tijerina said.

The office requires all employees to attend training sessions on discrimination issues every year and has given extra training to investigators, he said.